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Gary Oldman holds down the fort as George Smiley, a retired MI6 agent assigned to spy on his own, in this big-screen adaptation of Jean le Carre's bestseller. Though somewhat fragmented and difficult to follow for those who haven't read the book, Tomas Alfredson's (Let the Right One In) movie is endless fun to watch for two big reasons: The period detail is flawless, and Oldman hands in one of the best performances of his career.

Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy

Rating: Four stars out of five

The very best spy movies do more than spin a yarn of sticky intrigue with clandestine encounters and femmes fatales; they evoke a given era and its particular paranoia.

Casablanca, for example, oozes a sense of righteous moral potential despite great personal sacrifice. All the President's Men, on the other hand, lacks the same black and white tones, and pulls us into the quagmire of Cold War moral confusion.

Each movie has its own mental fingerprint, and for the above-mentioned, the impression is innate, because each film was of its own era.

Director Tomas Alfredson did not have the luxury of making a spy movie that reflected his own times when he took on the reins of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and adapted Jean le Carre's bestseller to the big screen.

Set in the early 1970s, the story of George Smiley and his pursuit of a mole deep within the ranks of MI6 is attached to an entirely different moment in the public psyche. What's astounding about Alfredson's movie is that, by the time the titles begin, we're already awash in cold memories of Watergate, quiet paranoia and ambient distrust.

Through little more than a series of close-ups and tracking shots that take us deep into the secret labyrinth of the British spy agency, Alfredson's careful compositions make us a voyeur to the action. They also have a habit of concealing the identity of certain players -- either by keeping a head turned from the lens, or by cutting it off altogether through the framing.

This is no accident. Alfredson is telling us that context doesn't reveal character. He's also suggesting the dire physical and political consequences of any wrong move in the lethal game of espionage.

Half the time, we have no idea what's happening, but it doesn't matter. We're compelled to keep watching, because Alfredson's (Let the Right One In) production perfectly captures the period, and because Gary Oldman is a thespian god.

George Smiley may have all of 20 lines in the whole movie, most of which come in the final scenes, yet Oldman welds your eyeballs open with little more than a glance over his Two Ronnies glasses.

His tweed-covered body and slick hair render him the ultimate Englishman, a cross between Henry Higgins and James Bond, and yet more emotionally removed than either fiction.

Oldman plays Smiley with such constipated sentiment, Alfredson generates suspense by treating him the way other directors treat a bomb. We are forced to watch Smiley tick, and tick, and tick.

Through it all, we leap back and forth through time, as Smiley starts piecing the jigsaw puzzle together.

Different characters are given a chunk of time under the microscope, allowing us to build our own theories about who may be guilty. Meanwhile, different clues in the continuing saga at the core of the story -- the search for the mole -- are revealed.

At times, it can get a little too cryptic for those who haven't read the book ahead of time, but things eventually come into focus.

Besides, the confusion keeps things interesting, because we can play along as each actor gives us his best shot at "being honest." We know someone is lying, but Alfredson never tips his hand too early, nor do any of the performers.

The result is a precise assembly of creative gears, and actor-cogs working in mechanical harmony under sprung tension. More than just another spy movie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a classic timepiece.

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